Offset mounting adapter for concrete surface processing tool

ABSTRACT

A mounting adapter for mounting a surface processing tool having a rotational or longitudinal axis to at least one spider arm of a rotatable spider assembly of a surface processing apparatus, the spider arm having a leading side and a trailing side as a function of the direction of rotation of the spider assembly. The mounting adapter has a first element for removably attaching the adapter to the spider arm and a second element positioned circumferentially offset behind the first element for positioning the rotational or longitudinal axis of a surface processing tool circumferentially offset behind the trailing side of the spider arm. The first element is an elongate apertured bar and the second element is weld filler material, the bar being connected to said surface processing tool via the weld filler material.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to surface processing machines formounting surface processing tools and, more particularly, to a methodand adapter for mounting surface processing tools, rotatable andotherwise, on the arms of motor driven spider arm assemblies of suchmachines.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is known that during the installation of concrete floors, thetroweling and finishing operation is performed on the wet concrete usingeither walk-behind or ride-on power trowels. Inasmuch as at least onetype of power trowel machine is generally already on site during theinstallation of concrete floors, the present invention seeks to use theon-site availability of these machines for surface finishing purposes.As used herein, the term “surface finishing” refers to the desiredsurface texture on a concrete slab after troweling and final setting ofthe concrete. In addition, generally, concrete contractors do not havespecialty surface processing machines on site for surface finishing andtypically do not own such machines. Therefore, where specialty surfaceprocessing machines are used to surface finish concrete surfaces,concrete contractors have to invest in and own or lease separate,expensive pieces of equipment. As used herein, the terms “surfaceprocessing machines” and “surface processing tools” refers to machinesand tools used for surface finishing a concrete slab.

In one of its forms, the present invention takes advantage of the largerfinished area attainable with ride-on power trowel machines byconverting these power trowel machines to surface processing machinessuitable for tasks other than troweling. Ride-on power trowel machinestypically range in size from approximately 6 feet to slightly more than10 feet in width and produce a troweled area of up to 40 square feet.The largest units weigh more than a ton and can finish about 30,000square feet per day. Ride on trowels, such as the trowel machineillustrated in FIG. 1 , can be configured with two or more spiderassemblies, each having a plurality of radially oriented, spaced-apartarms and a trowel blade mounted on and below each arm. The blades onadjacent rotors may be overlapping or non-overlapping. A typical fourarm spider assembly suitable for use with either a ride-on orwalk-behind power trowel is illustrated in FIG. 2 . The assemblygenerally includes four radially extending arms emanating from a centralhub, which receives a drive shaft. A trowel blade is mounted directlyvia bolts or indirectly via a mounting bar on and below each of thearms. Concrete troweling machines having spider assemblies for mountingtrowel blades, and the manner of attachment of the trowel blades to thespider arms, are discussed in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 7,059,801—Snyderet al, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Converting walk-behind or ride-on trowel machines to general purposesurface processing machines involves providing mounting means whichallows the rapid, on-site substitution of surface processing tools, suchas circular brushes, on the spider arms in place of the trowel bladeswhich were used during the installation of the concrete floor. Suchmounting means have the advantage that they can mount surface processingtools, instead of blades, such as scrubbing, brushing, buffing, grindingand polishing tools, on the spider arms using readily available handtools in a very short period of time without need for heavy or expensiveequipment. Exemplary currently available mounting means which canaccomplish the rapid mounting of rotatable surface processing tools ontroweling machines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,815,393-Snyder etal, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.Rotatable surface finishing tools are mounted to each of the spiderarms, frequently using a mounting bar, with their rotational axes invertical registry with and directly beneath the spider arm, such that asthe spider arms rotate about the hub, the rotatable surface processingtools, e g., circular brushes, on each arm are intended to be free tospin about a mounting axis perpendicular to the spider arms and parallelto the axis of rotation of the spider arms. Likewise, non-rotatablefinishing tools, e g., grinding stone holders, are conventionallymounted with their longitudinal axis in vertical registry with anddirectly beneath the spider arm.

During troweling operations on wet concrete surfaces, the surface isfinished or smoothed in steps, starting with a rough finish and stepwisemoving toward a so-called burnished finish. In the initial steps thespider arms and, thus, the attached trowel blades, are pivoted orpitched by the operator just a few degrees to slightly raise the leadingedge of the blade off the concrete surface in order to avoid itsinadvertent digging in to the concrete surface while the weight of thetroweling machine maintains the trailing edge of the blade in contactwith the concrete. The angle θ formed between the blade 36 and theconcrete, as shown in FIG. 3 , is referred to as the pitch of the blade.As surface finishing of the wet concrete progresses, the pitch of theblade is increased gradually from slightly above zero pitch to themaximum pitch of the blades, typically about θ=25°-30° in FIG. 3 , onsuccessive passes to put increasingly greater pressure on the concretesurface. The terms “leading edge” and “trailing edge” refer to the edgesof the trowel blade as a function of the direction of rotation of thespider assembly, i.e., clockwise or counter-clockwise. Correspondingly,the terms “leading side” and “trailing side” refer to the sides of eachof the arms 32 of the spider assembly as a function of the direction ofrotation of the spider assembly, i.e., clockwise or counter-clockwise.

FIG. 4A, FIG. 4B, and FIG. 4C illustrate an end view of a spider arm 32when the spider assembly is rotating in a clockwise direction. In thisand other figures the arcuate arrow indicates the direction of rotation,i.e. clockwise or counterclockwise, of the spider arm and assembly.Spider arms are typically polygonal in cross section, e.g., square,rectangular, hexagonal, octagonal, etc. FIG. 4B shows the spider arm 32in a horizontal or unpivoted position. FIG. 4A illustrates a spider arm32 pivoted into a leading side 32 a down position while FIG. 4C shows aspider arm 32 pivoted into a trailing side 32 b down position. Without ablade attached to each spider arm 32, but with a surface processing toolattached directly under the spider arm, the spider arms of manyconventional troweling machines tend to pivot, more or less, toward atrailing side 32 b inclined down position as shown in FIG. 4C. If onecompares the pivoted trailing side 32 b inclined down position of thespider arm in FIG. 4C with the unpivoted position of the spider arm inFIG. 4B it will be appreciated that the trailing side 32 b pivoted downposition is the same as the pitched trowel blade trailing edge downposition desirable during wet concrete finishing operations using trowelblades. This tendency to pivot to a trailing side down position presentsa problem when trowel blades are removed from the spider arms andsurface processing tools, such as brushes, grinding stones, grindingpads or other honing or polishing pads are installed on the spider arms.The problem is particularly, but not exclusively, noted when the surfaceprocessing tool is a rotating tool and a bearing is mounted between thespider arm and the tool in an effort to allow the tool to freely spin asthe spider arm is circularly driven by the trowel assembly motor. Thisis because a rotating tool bearing is designed to have enough play toallow it to absorb forces encountered during use, such as a brushstriking bumps on the floor or impacting with walls, and this playallows the bearing to pivot severely due to the trailing side downpivoting of the spider arm. The result is that the bearing tends to bindand is unable to freely rotate, causing it to wear more rapidly than itwould in normal use. At the same time, the attached surface processingtool is unable to freely rotate, is not oriented flat on the concretesurface and is caused, by the spider arm pivoting, to wear unevenly,which shortens the tool's useful life. Similar uneven wear is noted whenthe surface processing tool is non-rotatable, such as a grinding stonesurface processing tool housed within a grinding stone holder, when theholder is mounted on and directly beneath the spider arms.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a ride-on power trowel.

FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of a four spider arm spider assemblymounting four trowel blades and suitable for use with ride-on surfaceprocessing machines.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 2 showing thepitch of a trowel blade during a finishing operation.

FIG. 4A is a side elevation view of the free end of a spider arm in itsleading side down position, FIG. 4B shows it in its unpivoted positionand FIG. 4C shows it in its trailing side down position, when the spiderassembly is rotated in a clockwise direction.

FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are a top plan view of two embodiments, FIG. 5A andFIG. 5B, of an offset mounting plate of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of one manner in which the offsetmounting plate mounts to a bearing, for example, of a rotatable surfaceprocessing tool.

FIG. 7 is a top perspective view of a circular brush assembly mountedbelow a spider arm using the offset mounting plate of the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 is a top perspective view of a circular brush assembly mountedabove a spider arm using the offset mounting plate of the presentinvention.

FIG. 9 is a top plan view of the assembly of FIG. 7 when the spiderassembly is rotating in a clockwise direction.

FIG. 10 is a top plan view of the assembly of FIG. 7 when the spiderassembly is rotating in a counterclockwise direction.

FIG. 11 is a partial sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 9 .

FIG. 12 is a top plan view of a grinding stone holder mounted below aspider arm using the offset mounting plate of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a top plan view of a grinding stone holder mounted above aspider arm using the offset mounting plate of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a grinding stone holder welded to amounting bar which is, itself, attached to a spider arm.

FIG. 15 is a side perspective view of a spider assembly comprising themounting adapter and surface processing tool of FIG. 14 .

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of a mounting adapter comprising tworigidly attached separate structures for mounting the rotational axis ofa circular brush assembly circumferentially behind the trailing side ofa spider arm.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide amounting adapter for mounting the rotational or longitudinal axis of asurface processing tool circumferentially behind the trailing side of aspider arm.

It is another object of the present invention to provide such a mountingadapter for surface processing tools which allows their use onconventional power trowel machines having spider assembly arms.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide such amounting adapter which, when mounted between a surface processing tooland a spider arm, overcomes the tendency of the spider arms to pivottoward a trailing side down position and allows the tool to functionwithout uneven wear.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such amounting adapter which allows advantage to be taken of the presence at aconcrete floor construction site of readily available high squarefootage capacity power trowel machines for surface processing purposes.

It is another object of the present invention to provide such a mountingadapter which allows the rapid, on-site substitution of surfaceprocessing tools on spider arms in place of the trowel blades usedduring concrete floor installation.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide such amounting adapter for surface processing tools on spider assemblies whichallows rotatable surface processing tools to spin freely about theiraxes while the spider arms are rotatably driven in order to encouragemore uniform wear of the tools and a longer useful life.

The foregoing and other objects are achieved in accordance with thepresent invention by providing a mounting adapter for mounting a surfaceprocessing tool having a rotational or longitudinal axis to at least onespider arm of a motor driven rotatable spider assembly of a surfaceprocessing apparatus, said spider arm having a top surface and a bottomsurface, and a leading side and a trailing side as a function of thedirection of rotation of said spider assembly, said mounting adaptercomprising: a first element for removably attaching said adapter to saidspider arm and, a second element unitary with or connected to said firstelement and positioned circumferentially offset behind said firstelement, said second element comprising means for positioning therotational axis of rotating surface processing tools or the longitudinalaxis of non-rotatable surface processing tools circumferentially offsetbehind said trailing side of said spider arm.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the presentinvention provides a method for mounting a surface processing toolhaving a rotational or longitudinal axis to at least one spider arm of amotor driven rotatable spider assembly of a surface processingapparatus, said spider arm having a top surface and a bottom surface,and a leading side and a trailing side as a function of the direction ofrotation of said spider assembly, said method comprising:

-   removably attaching a mounting adapter to said spider arm, said    mounting adapter comprising a first element for attachment to said    spider arm and a second element unitary with or connected to said    first element and positioned circumferentially offset behind said    first element; and-   attaching said surface processing tool to means on said second    element for positioning the rotational axis of rotating surface    processing tools or the longitudinal axis of non-rotatable surface    processing tools circumferentially offset behind said trailing side    of said spider arm.

In accordance with still another aspect of the invention, said firstelement comprises an elongate handle and said second element comprises aplanar plate, wider than said handle, and extending generallyperpendicularly from said handle between one end of said handle and apoint intermediate the ends of said handle, said planar plate comprisingmeans for positioning the rotational axis of rotating surface processingtools or the longitudinal axis of non-rotatable surface processing toolscircumferentially offset behind said trailing side of said spider arm.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, said firstelement comprises an elongate apertured bar and said second elementcomprises weld filler material, said bar being connected to said surfaceprocessing tool via said weld filler material.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, said first elementcomprises an elongate apertured bar and said second element comprises atool support bar or plate extending generally perpendicularly from saidbar between its ends and rigidly attached thereto.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1 there is shown a conventional ride-on concretefinishing power trowel 10 comprising an operator seating and controlstation 12, an engine 14, at least two downwardly projecting spiderassemblies 16, each assembly having a plurality of radially extending,circumferentially spaced-apart spider arms and a trowel blade mounted oneach arm for providing at least two sets of horizontal rotating bladesencircled by a guard ring cage 18. The adjacent spider assemblies 16counterrotate, with one rotating clockwise and the other rotatingcounterclockwise. A typical four arm spider assembly 30, suitable foruse with either a ride-on or walk-behind power trowel, is illustrated inFIG. 2 . The assembly includes four radially extending arms 32 emanatingfrom a central hub 34, which receives a drive shaft (not shown). Eachspider arm 32 includes a pivot assembly 35 which allows the arm 32 topivot about its longitudinal axis L. A trowel blade 36 is mounted viathreaded bolts 38 (and lock washers and hex nuts, if desired) below eachspider arm 32 in threaded apertures 40 spaced along and extendingthrough each spider arm 32. It will be appreciated that each rotorassembly may contain more or less than four arms for mounting trowelblades thereon, the number of arms being a matter of design choice.

The present invention provides a solution to the problem of surfaceprocessing tools wearing unevenly and to the problem of spider armtendency to pivot which prevents free and unimpeded rotation ofrotatable surface processing tools. According to the present inventionthese problems are overcome by providing a mounting adapter for mountingthe rotational or longitudinal axis of the surface processing toolcircumferentially behind the trailing side of the spider arm. It hasbeen found that offsetting the surface processing tool circumferentiallybehind the trailing side of a spider arm controls the tendency of thespider arm to pitch into a trailing side down position. It will beappreciated, of course, that the side of a spider arm which is thetrailing side is a function of the direction of rotation, clockwise orcounter-clockwise, of the spider assembly. It follows that the trailingside when the rotation is clockwise becomes the leading side if therotation is counter-clockwise. The mounting adapter of the presentinvention comprises a first means for attaching the adapter to thespider arm, desirably to the top or bottom surface of the spider arm,and a second means for positioning the rotational or longitudinal axisof the surface processing tool circumferentially behind the trailingside of the spider arm. Desirably the first and second means comprisingthe adapter are unitary and planar but, alternatively, may be separatestructures rigidly attached via well known connecting means, such aswelds, bolts, and the like.

It will also be appreciated that although the mounting adapter of thepresent invention will be described herein with reference to ride-onsurface processing machines due to the unique advantage they offer interms of square feet of concrete which can be finished per day, themounting adapter can, of course, be used with walk-behind surfaceprocessing machines which also conventionally use downwardly projectingrotor or spider assemblies for mounting trowel blades. In addition,although the present invention will be described herein primarily withreference to circular brushes as illustrative of rotatable surfaceprocessing tools and grinding stone holders as illustrative ofnon-rotatable surface processing tools, it will be appreciated that themounting adapter of the present invention can, of course, be used withother surface processing tools, such as scrubbers, buffers, grinders,polishers, and the like.

Referring to FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B there are illustrated two preferredembodiments, in the form of offset mounting plates 100, of an offsetmounting adapter of the present invention. Fundamentally, they differonly in size to accommodate the differing lengths of spider arms inspider assemblies. In one form, each offset mounting plate 100 has thegeneral shape of a cleaver including an elongate handle 102 which mergesinto a wider offset blade portion 104, which blade portion 104 extendsin width in a direction generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis106 of the handle 102. Handle 102 includes apertures 108 for attachmentof the handle 102 to the spider arm 32, desirably using at least twobolts, which extend through apertures in the spider arms and arereceived in apertures 108, and offset blade portion 104 includes atleast one aperture 110 for attachment to and positioning the surfaceprocessing tool or bearing therefor. Apertures 108 and 110 are desirablythreaded to facilitate mounting a surface processing tool or bearingthereto using a threaded bolt or the threaded end of the central shankof a typical rotary bearing 80 (and lock washers and hex nuts, ifdesired).

Mounting plate 100 is configured for easily attaching above or belowspider arm 32, to provide an offset portion 104 to which a surfaceprocessing tool is mounted for positioning the rotational orlongitudinal axis thereof (depending upon the type of the particularsurface processing tool) circumferentially behind the trailing side 32 bof spider arm 32, and to not interfere with pivot assembly 35 associatedwith each spider arm 32. One advantage of attaching the mounting adapterof the present invention to the top surface of the spider arm is that itreduces any tendency of a surface finishing tool to destabilize atroweling machine by raising its center of gravity. This sometimesoccurs because surface finishing tools are considerably thicker thantrowel blades and, therefore, when a spider arm pivots to a trailingedge down position, the thickness of the surface processing toolsupporting the troweling machine on the tool's trailing portions raisesthe troweling machine considerably more than would a trowel bladesupporting the machine on its trailing edge. It will be appreciated thatthe spider assemblies of troweling machines of different manufacturershave different configurations and that the shape of the offset bladeportion 104 must be adapted to not interfere with spider assemblycomponents. In the embodiments of FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B the length ofoffset blade portion 104 is shortened to not interfere with pivotassembly 35 of a spider assembly, e.g. a Wacker Neuson spider assembly,and comprises about ⅔ of the overall length of the offset mounting plate100. However, for use with troweling machines of other manufacturers,which may have different spider assembly configurations, the offsetblade portion 104 might extend the entire length of the handle 102 ormight be otherwise configured to accommodate the spider assemblyconfiguration.

FIG. 6 illustrates the manner in which offset mounting plate 100 mountsonto the central shank of a typical rotary bearing 80 of a circularbrush using a lock washer and hex nut, or equivalent connectors. Whenthe configuration of FIG. 6 is mounted to a spider arm via apertures 108in the plate 100, the bearing (and, therefore, the surface processingtool to which the bearing is affixed) is no longer positioned with itsrotational axis in vertical registry with and directly beneath thespider arm as is the case with conventional mounting adapters. Rather,it is positioned with its rotational axis circumferentially offset fromand behind the trailing side of the spider arm 32.

Referring to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 there is shown a typical circular brushassembly 50 including a circular bristle brush 52 in the form of a ringhaving a hollow center (not shown) mounted to or with the bristlesextending from the underside 56 a of a brush cover plate 56, which hasan upper surface 56 b which may be flat or slightly convex. Cover plate56 includes a central aperture (shown as 58 in FIG. 11 ) for receiving amounting shank of a typical rotary bearing 80 therethrough. A brushassembly 50 is mounted to one of the arms 32 of a spider assembly 30 byfirst mounting the brush assembly to aperture 110 of an offset mountingplate 100, which itself is mounted below (FIG. 7 ) or above (FIG. 8 )arm 32 of the spider assembly 30. Brush assembly 50 is thereby mountedwith its rotational axis offset to the rear of the trailing side 32 b ofthe spider arm 32, which can be clearly seen in FIG. 9 as spider arm 32rotates clockwise and in FIG. 10 as spider arm 32 rotatescounterclockwise. Brush assembly 50 is mounted to offset mounting plate100 in a manner which allows brush assembly 50 to lie flat on theconcrete surface and to spin freely on its axis, as will be seen fromthe following description.

Referring to FIG. 11 , initially a rotary bearing 80 is mounted, e g.,via bolts 74 and nuts 76, on the upper surface 56 b of brush cover plate56 and positioned thereon such that bearing 80 is concentric with thecentral aperture 58 of the brush assembly 50. Bearing 80 may be any typeof bearing, e.g., ball bearing, roller bearing, fluid bearing, magneticbearing, etc., which will permit each of the brushes 52 on each spiderarm 32 to spin freely about its mounting axis perpendicular to the arms.In one illustrative embodiment, bearing 80 includes a stationary hub 82having a central bore 83, which is mounted to the brush cover plateupper surface 56 b, a rotating hub 84 having a central bore 85 mountedwithin the central bore 83 of stationary hub 82 and fluid bearing means86 sealed within bearing 80 and between hubs 82, 84 to facilitateconcentric rotation of the hubs about a common axis, which is thecentral axis 59 of the brush assembly central aperture 58. A threaded,radially extending lubrication port (not shown) is desirably formed instationary hub 82 to facilitate the injection of lubricant, whenrequired. The lubrication port is closed by a grease port through whichthe lubricant may be injected.

With bearing 80 bolted in place on the upper surface 56 b, end 70 ofmounting shank 60 is inserted into the central aperture 58 of coverplate 56 from the brush side of cover plate 56 and extends throughcentral bore 85 of rotating hub 84 with threaded portion 68 of shank 60emerging from the central bore 85. The diameter of shank head 62approximates the diameter of central aperture 58 but is slightly smallerso that the portion of head 62 which remains within central aperture 58when shank 60 is fully inserted within rotating hub 82 does notfrictionally engage the side walls of central aperture 58 as brushassembly 50 spins on mounting shank 60. Cylindrical shank portion 66 hasa smaller diameter than shank head 62 to define an annular shoulder 63therebetween which seats against the underside of rotating hub 84 whenmounting shank 60 is fully inserted therewithin. Cylindrical shankportion 66 has a diameter which allows central aperture 58 of brushassembly 50 to rotate freely about shank head 62 with just enough playto allow bearing 80 to absorb forces encountered during use, such asbrush 52 striking bumps on the floor or brush cover plate 56 impactingwith walls, and the like. Shank 60 is so dimensioned that, when thusmounted, the smooth portion 66 of mounting shank 60 is rotationallyclosely adjacent the inner diameter of rotating hub 84 and the brushassembly 50 is securely mounted on offset mounting plate 100, yet isfree to spin on the axis provided by mounting shank 60. The threadedportion 68 projecting from rotating hub 84 is threaded or inserted intoaperture 110 in offset portion 104 of mounting plate 100 and may beretained using a lock washer and hex nut, or equivalent hardware. Inthis manner, mounting shank 60 is firmly seated between the underside ofrotating hub 84 and offset mounting plate 100. Mounting plate 100 isattached via apertures 108 in handle 102 to spider arm 32 with bolts, ashereinbefore described. A recessed aperture 88, such as a hexagonalaperture, is formed in end 64 of mounting shank 60 to facilitatethreading or inserting threaded portion 68 of shank 60 onto offsetmounting plate 100.

Mounting the surface processing tool to the offset mounting plate 100instead of directly to the spider arm 32 or indirectly to the spider arm32 via one side rather than to the top or bottom of a mounting bar,positions the rotational axis of the tool behind the trailing side 32 bof the spider arm 32 instead of in vertical registry with thelongitudinal axis L of the spider arm 32 and overcomes the trailing side32 b down tendency of the spider arms 32. This allows the bearing 80 ofrotational surface processing tools to operate normally and to freelyrotate and causes the surface processing tools to operate while orientedflat on the concrete surface. See FIG. 7 . As a result, the surfacefinishing tools wear uniformly rather than unevenly and undesirableswirls and marks on the concrete surface are avoided.

A comparable result is achieved with surface finishing tools which donot rotate and, therefore, do not have a rotational axis or require abearing to be mounted between the tool and the spider arm. Referring toFIG. 12 and FIG. 13 , mounting of nonrotating surface-finishing tools,such as grinding stones 120 in grinding stone holders 122, are observedto wear more uniformly and, therefore, to be useful for a longer periodof time, if the holder 122 is mounted to the offset portion 104 ofoffset mounting plate 100 of the present invention and the mountingplate 100 is mounted to the bottom (FIG. 12 ) or top (FIG. 13 ) of thespider arm 32, as compared to the longitudinal axis 124 of holder 122being mounted directly to and in vertical registry with the longitudinalaxis L of the spider arm 32. As with the circular brushes hereinbeforedescribed, mounting to the offset mounting plate 100 mounts thelongitudinal axis of the surface-finishing tool offset to thecircumferential rear of the trailing side 32 b of the spider arm 32,which can be seen in FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 as spider arm 32 rotatesclockwise. In FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 , the upper surface of grinding stoneholder 122 is welded to the underside of offset blade portion 104.Alternatively, grinding stone holder 122 could be attached to the offsetblade portion 104 by providing one or more additional apertures (notshown) in the offset blade portion 104 and attaching the grinding stoneholder via bolts extending upwardly through aperture 110 and through theadditional apertures from the inside or grinding stone side of theholder 122.

As indicated previously herein, the mounting adapter of the presentinvention comprises a first means for attaching the adapter to thespider arm and a second means for positioning the rotational orlongitudinal axis of the surface processing tool circumferentiallybehind the trailing side of the spider arm. This allows the bearing ofrotational surface processing tools to freely rotate and not bind andcauses both rotational and non-rotational surface processing tools tooperate while oriented flat on the concrete surface, thereby avoidinguneven wear and a shorter useful life. To achieve this goal it has beenfound advantageous to utilize the offset mounting plate 100 which hasbeen described hereinabove and as illustrated in FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 .However, other mounting adapter configurations provide comparableresults. For example, referring to FIG. 14 , a grinding stone holder 122may be welded along one of its elongate sides 122 a to the side of amounting bar 130 provided with apertures 132 for attaching the grindingstone holder 122 behind the trailing side 32 b of the spider arm 32instead of in vertical registry with the longitudinal axis L of thespider arm 32. The mounting bar provides the first means for attachingthe mounting adapter to the spider arm 32 and the weld filler material134 comprises the second means for positioning the longitudinal axis ofthe holder 122 circumferentially behind the trailing side 32 b of thespider arm 32. Use of a mounting adapter such as this also allows thesurface processing tool to operate while oriented flat on the concretesurface, as can be seen in FIG. 15 , thus avoiding uneven wear and ashorter useful life In still another configuration, shown in FIG. 16 , amounting adapter can comprise a mounting bar, such as bar 130 whichincludes apertures 132 for attaching the mounting bar 130 to a spiderarm 32 and, desirably, one or more apertures, such as apertures 132 orothers, not shown, for rigidly attaching a surface processing toolpositioning means, such as a tool support bar 136 or plate 136 (shown inphantom), to mounting bar 130 via one or more bolts or other rigidsecuring means. Support bar or plate 136 extends generallyperpendicularly from mounting bar 130 in a direction circumferentiallybehind the trailing side 32 b of spider arm 32 for mounting therotatable or longitudinal axis of a surface processing tool, such as thethreaded shank 68 of a rotatable bearing 80 attached to a rotatablesurface processing tool. See FIG. 16 . It will be appreciated that toolsupport bar or plate 136 may be of any convenient dimensions consistentwith the dimensions and operation of the spider assembly and, also,comprehends the use of multiple bars or plates.

While the present invention has been described in terms of specificembodiments thereof, it will be understood that no limitations areintended to the details of construction or design other than as definedin the appended claims.

We claim:
 1. A mounting adapter, comprising: a member having a firstelement and a second element; wherein: the first element is configuredto connect to a spider arm of a surface processing machine, the spiderarm having a leading side and a trailing side as a function of directionof rotation of the spider arm; the second element is configured toconnect to a surface processing tool; and the second element is offsetrelative to the first element such that at least a portion of the secondelement is behind the trailing side of the spider arm when the firstelement is connected to the spider arm.
 2. The mounting adapter of claim1, wherein the first element is configured to permanently, temporarily,directly, or indirectly connect to the spider arm.
 3. The mountingadapter of claim 1, wherein the second element is configured topermanently, temporarily, directly, or indirectly connect to the surfaceprocessing tool.
 4. The mounting adapter of claim 1, wherein themounting adapter is configured to connect to a top surface of the spiderarm or a bottom surface of the spider arm.
 5. The mounting adapter ofclaim 1, further comprising the spider arm.
 6. The mounting adapter ofclaim 1, further comprising the surface processing tool.
 7. A mountingadapter, comprising: a member having a first element and a secondelement; wherein: the first element is configured to connect to a spiderarm of a surface processing machine, the first element connectable tothe spider arm at a point along a longitudinal axis of the spider arm;the second element is configured to connect to a surface processingtool; and the second element is offset relative to the first element atthe point along the longitudinal axis of the spider arm where the firstelement is connectable to the spider arm.
 8. The mounting adapter ofclaim 7, wherein the first element is configured to permanently,temporarily, directly, or indirectly connect to the spider arm.
 9. Themounting adapter of claim 7, wherein the second element is configured topermanently, temporarily, directly, or indirectly connect to the surfaceprocessing tool.
 10. The mounting adapter of claim 7, wherein themounting adapter is configured to connect to a top surface of the spiderarm or a bottom surface of the spider arm.
 11. The mounting adapter ofclaim 7, further comprising the spider arm.
 12. The mounting adapter ofclaim 7, further comprising the surface processing tool.
 13. A mountingadapter, comprising: a member configured to connect to a spider arm of asurface processing machine and connect to a surface processing tool, themember having a mounting adapter leading side and a mounting adaptertrailing side as a function of direction of rotation of mountingadapter; wherein: the spider arm has a spider arm leading side and aspider arm trailing side as a function of direction of rotation of thespider arm; at least a portion of the mounting adapter leading sidecorresponds with the spider arm leading side; at least a portion of themounting adapter trailing side corresponds with the spider arm trailingside; the member is connectable to the surface processing tool at aportion of the member that is more proximate the mounting adaptertrailing side than the mounting adapter leading side.
 14. The mountingadapter of claim 13, wherein the member is configured to permanently,temporarily, directly, or indirectly connect to the spider arm.
 15. Themounting adapter of claim 13, wherein the member is configured topermanently, temporarily, directly, or indirectly connect to the surfaceprocessing tool.
 16. The mounting adapter of claim 13, wherein themember is configured to connect to a top surface of the spider arm or abottom surface of the spider arm.
 17. The mounting adapter of claim 13,further comprising the spider arm.
 18. The mounting adapter of claim 13,further comprising the surface processing tool.